Well, that didn't suck

 

   Yesterday I went to Avondale in Westerly, RI to hopefully see the Western Tanager ( there were actually two at some points) that had been hanging out there for over a week. I wanted to go on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas but the weather was bad. I spent three and a half hours looking for the Western Tanager(s) without any luck.

   Western Tanager would be a state bird for me. I've seen them in South Dakota but never in Rhode Island. Since the weather forecast for today was just clouds I decided to go back and try again. When I got to Avondale I came across my friends Tim Metcalf and Bill Thompson. We all walked to the area the tanager had been seen. Tim had to leave pretty quickly leaving Bill and I. Soon after Dianne Auld showed up. 

  About an hour after I got there, I spotted the Western Tanager in what I have been told is one of its favorite trees, a Cedar full of berries. I called Bill over and another guy I had never met. The three of us watched it hop into multiple trees. Dianne came around a corner and we waved her over. 

   The bird put on a fantastic show for fifteen minutes. The sky was overcast and nasty white. However, the bird stayed low in the green background. The light was absolutely perfect as long as we didn't have to point our cameras into the sky. The Tanager was absolutely amazing for us. When it finally flew out of sight, Bill remarked "Well, that didn't suck".  I couldn't have worded it any better.  

Pike Fishing Moore Reservoir New Hampshire.

 The week before I left for Florida I went to Moore Reservoir in northern New Hampshire. The goal was to catch a Northern Pike, a species I have never caught. I did the round trip drive in a day. It was over three hours in each direction. 

   I left early and got to the first of three boat ramps I would launch my canoe at 8:30 AM. When I left my house it was a balmy 39 degrees in the 5 AM darkness. As I drove further north I watched the temperature gauge in my CRV plummet. When I reached the boat ramp it was 26 degrees. I knew I had at least twenty minutes of work to do at my car before I could launch. This was on purpose to slow me down and come up with a game plan. I put my lures on my fishing poles. I made a lunch. I lost my anchor a while back and forgot to buy a new one. However, a makeshift anchor of rocks in a couple socks I had in my trunk worked out nicely. I opened up some hand warmers. I warmed up for a couple minutes in the car. After doing all that, I launched.

   Moore Reservoir is an impoundment on the Connecticut River. There are multiple launches on the New Hampshire side not far from where I-93 crosses into Vermont. I had two rods set up. One was with a slow sinking Sebile Swimbait. I used it every few minutes. However, my main lure was a 3/4 ounce Spinnerbait. I had asked advice from Mark Beauchesne a NH fishing guide that spent a career at NH Fish and Game, when I last saw him at the Boxboro Outdoor Expo. He gave me some pointers. I also watched a short video he posted on Youtube. 

  I fished my first location for a couple of hours. When I first got on the water the view was only fifty feet of gray air. Because of the fog I was careful not to lose my sense of direction. I followed the shoreline counter-clockwise. That way I knew all I had to do was turn around and follow the same shoreline back to the car. About thirty minutes into fishing I caught a fish, but was "disappointed" to have caught a Smallmouth Bass. After the fog lifted, I realized that I was fishing a lake connected to the main reservoir through a culvert. Though connected to the main body of water, I knew my chances were better in the main reservoir. I loaded the canoe on the car and moved west up the New Hampshire shoreline.

My second location was near Moore Dam. This was a cool spot. From the dam the water drops at least a hundred feet into a valley and the water of  Connecticut River moves on. The boat ramp was a few hundred yards up lake from the dam. You are not allowed to boat, swim, or fish near the dam so you don't go over. I followed the shoreline for a while casting my spinnerbait toward any structure I could find. I soon realized the shoreline I was fishing was shallow and wasn't going to be productive. On the other hand, the shoreline across the lake about half mile away looked to have downed trees and protruding rocks and an island. I decided to take the long paddle over. The water was flat calm all day. There wasn't any breeze at all. It was perfect for canoeing. 

   When I got to the other side I wasn't disappointed by the structure. There was plenty to cast at. Within a few minutes, I had another fish. It was a carbon copy of the Smallie I caught earlier. It surprised me to be catching foot long smallmouth on such a big spinnerbait. It made me wonder how many smallies I'd catch if I targeted them. This was only speculation though. I purposely did not bring any bass gear so that I would have to target pike all day even if I didn't catch one.  I fished this area for three hours without a pike. I packed up a little after 2 pm and moved to my third and final ramp. 

   I moved further north up the lake. The boat ramp I pulled up to was one of the nicest I've ever seen. It had a large parking area, a dock for boats to tie to while the driver parked the car. I loved the location too. To my left a half mile out was a large piece of land that extended left far enough that I couldn't tell if it was a peninsular or an island. This piece of land made a huge couple hundred acre cove. I paddled out to the point and worked my way left. As I stopped paddling and reached for my rod, a Bald Eagle that I hadn't seen flew off a dead snag right above me. I worked my way all around this cove. It had a small cove inside this cove. I saw some small fish busting on some surface insects. This was the only sign of underwater life I had seen all day. Despite the calm conditions, I hadn't seen one fish splash in seven hours. 

   Knowing there was baitfish I got excited and really concentrated on my casts. I worked the cove casting over the baitfish and working my spinnerbait through it. On one of the casts I had a pike follow my lure. I watched it follow it then turn around. It was painful and exciting at the same time. It wasn't a monster but bigger than any pickerel I've ever caught. Maybe in the thirty inch range. Obviously my heart started pumping and every cast became another chance. Ten minutes after my follow, I caught, sigh, another Smallmouth. 

  Spoiler alert! I never caught a pike that day.I worked my way back to the car but it was not to be. I fished until 4:30. I had a long ride home. I know this is going to sound like a lie, I really enjoyed my day. Despite the cold start, and fishing in thirty degree temps most of the day, I was never really cold. When it warmed up in the afternoon (to the mid-forties) I was very comfortable. The scenery was great (once the fog lifted). I didn't catch the fish I wanted, but I did catch three fish. I knew in advance that I had at best a 50/50 chance of catching a pike. If I didn't catch one, I knew I'd have over a three hour ride home to pout about it. But the truth was, I didn't pout. It was a fun day. Instead of beating me down, Moore Reservoir made me want more. I will be back there next May for sure. I will take a couple days away from bird migration and Stripers. Catching a Pike has moved high up my East Bucket List and I really want to catch one, and I fell in love with Moore Reservoir!

Meeting people along the way

 

Joanna was the lady in green on the left.
The chair at the bottom of the photo
was Earnest Hemingway's
original chair when he ate at the 
dining room

   I rag on my friend Sue constantly because of her ability to talk to new people. She will chat with anyone and within fifteen minutes she will know their life story. Sometimes, the problem is, the rest of us (me specifically) don't want to wait that fifteen minutes. Many times while birding with her I've walked away to continue birding. Laurie saw this first hand in Florida. At the first stop at Ding Darling, Sue started up a conversation with a volunteer. Laurie and I were already to move on to the next stop. Sue did learn a couple good spots to bird in the following days from that conversation. Meanwhile, Laurie and I walked back to the rental as a signal it was time to go. Though it was only a bluff, we were at Sue's mercy because we carpooled in her rental. 

   Despite the above true story, Sue will be proud of me when she reads this. I consider myself a traveler and not a tourist. I certainly do not want to be mentioned as a touron (a tourist that is a moron). When I vacation, my main goal is to find things I am in awe of. Put me in Independence Hall and all I see is the history, Put me in front of a bear and I can sit there for hours watching it and taking photos. Talking and meeting other travelers or locals has never been a priority. Seeing wildlife, scenery and history are the things I want to do.

   However, this trip, I decided I was going to converse with people I met along the way. If I knew I was having a good conversation I would purposely introduce myself so I could get their name. I considered it a social experiment on myself. I wanted to see if meeting people added to my experience. I wasn't going to force myself into a conversation, but if it happened naturally, I would invest my time into getting to know/listening to/ learn something from people I met along the way.

   This experiment started off with a bang. We had to take two flights to get to Ft. Lauderdale. Our first flight from Providence went to BWI. Sitting next to me was a large black man named Terrence. Terrence and his girlfriend were on their way to the Dominican for four days. The main goal was to drink and relax. He is a Providence Police Detective Supervisor. We discussed everything form Midnight Basketball to the Florida Keys. Since we were trapped thirty thousand feet up, this was my longest conversation with anyone I'm going to write about. There was no question that Terrance is a stand up guy. As I like to say, usually to be annoying, he's a good egg.

   Next up is Gordon. Gordon was staying at Bahia Honda a few sites up from us. He is a retired man that may be nearing seventy, but is in the shape of a forty year old. He lives near North Hampton, MA, which is about two hours from my house. Gordon's favorite hobby is wind surfing. He was staying at Bahia Honda alone (he is married) for twelve days. We went wind surfing almost every day. He pointed out that on breezy days its fun to go fast. On calmer days its fun because he can see in the water. One day he went out he saw tarpons and a huge Manta Ray.  Gordon gave us a bunch of tips on where to snorkel, eat, and how to get camping reservations last minute. He was a talker and every time he saw us he struck up a lengthy conversation. His knowledge was very useful on our trip.

   The only person I'm going to write about that I didn't really converse with is Joanna. She was a tour guide at the Hemmingway House. She was from Poland and had a very strong accent. However, she was an amazing tour guide. Because of her accent, she pronounced every syllable and word slowly and clearly. She was very articulate. Because of her slow speech and pronunciation she was very easy to listen to. She knew everything about the house and Hemingway. She was asked ten to fifteen questions and had answers for all of them. For sure, she enhanced our visit. Our tour guide at the Truman White House, Kirk, was just as knowledgeable and a great guide.

   One of the rangers at the gate at Bahia Honda was a woman named Mona. She was over the top enthusiastic. Like really over the top. However, I think she was genuine. Though our conversation was limited to us checking in, she was extremely helpful with advice. She told us where to look for sea turtles. She explained every detail of the campground map. More than a half hour with her would probably be all I could have taken. But she was nice and caring.

   While I was looking at the sunning Crocodile at Flamingo, we were talking to a guy named Michael. He was in his late fifties and walked with a cane. We was a little off of his rocker for sure. There was something a little odd  about him. None the less, the guy likes learning and wasn't afraid to tell you what he knew. I know this is coming off as he was a know-it-all, but it was more like he enjoyed sharing info. He told us a lot of stuff about crocs, gators, and the Everglades. Though I already knew seventy five percent of what he said, I didn't interrupt him.  I did pick up some useful tidbits from him. Also, we were twenty feet from an eight foot crocodile, and I knew I could outrun Michael, so there's that. 

   As I said before, Corkscrew Swamp was a big disappointment. After we finished the boardwalk Laurie went inside to use the bathroom. I stayed out where the feeders used to be. There were two kids that had just graduated college outside as well. Their names were Connor and Nick. Connor liked to talk, and Nick, true to his name, was the quieter one. Both boys live in the area and they both had done work at Corkscrew. They agreed that they didn't see much of anything either. Connor then told me a place to go that had thousands of birds. There is an abandoned tomato farm twenty minutes from Corkscrew that was loaded with birds because of the rain the previous days. Thanks to Connor's info, we saw Limpkins, Wood Storks, every heron in Florida, and Roseate Spoonbills. I owe these boys big for that tip.

   Lastly there's Harvey. Harvey was the flight attendant on our trip back to Providence. I learned nothing of value from him. Instead, I just enjoyed talking to him. He was the flight attendant for the back third of the plane. We had last row seats so we had multiple brief conversations. He was from Texas. After leaving Providence he had another connecting flight before a third flight back home in Ft Worth. He had a wedding in Oklahoma the following day. Since he had to be on the road at 5 am Saturday, and they were scheduled to land at Ft. Worth at 1 am, he wasn't going to get much sleep. 

   So there you have it, my social experiment in writing. To be honest, when I got home I really hadn't thought they added much to my trip. I probably would have enjoyed the Crocodile as much without Michael there. However, there is no doubt that Gordon, Connor,  and Harvey added to my experience. Just by writing this, I have realized they will be part of the memory of Florida 2021. And did I mention how great the tour guides were?

   

Bowman Beach, Sanibel Island

   

We spent a morning at Bowman Beach on Sanibel Island. Bowman Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world for collecting shells. Laurie and I met my friend Sue Palmer at low tide in the hopes of finding some cool shells. The plan was to be at the beach for a couple of hours then go to Ding Darling birding for another couple of hours. Since both shelling and birding at Ding are both best at low tide, time was a consideration for how long we stayed at Bowman Beach. It costs five dollars an hour to park at Bowman Beach.

   Shelling is best after a storm. However, no major storms had hit the west coast of Florida for a while, so honestly, I had no idea what to expect. It turned out the beach was pretty awesome. There were a ton of shells lined up along the high tide line. The majority of shells were different colored scallops. The sand was covered in them. There were so many that the shells were the ground. We did find a few snail shells also. If we had time to walk in the water who knows what we could have found.

Dolphins swimming past the beach

   We all walked half a mile up the beach at our own pace and picked up shells that interested us. This may have been Laurie's most relaxing part of the trip. She was really looking forward to shelling and it did not disappoint. She picked up a small bag of shells. There is no question that if we ever go back to Florida again, we will spend an entire tide looking for shells both in and out of the water. 

   Besides looking for shells we came away with other awesome memories. Brown Pelicans, terns and gulls were flying over the ocean. But what really got our attention were the Bottle Nosed Dolphins pods that swam by us. As you can imagine, we all stopped looking at the sand and admired the dolphins. 

Red Knot in winter plumage

   At our turn around point half a mile up the beach we came across a flock of twenty Red Knots. Knots are among my favorite birds, so it was a treat to watch them. However, time was ticking so after five minutes we turned to the parking lot.

   As we were about to leave, terns started landing on the beach. They were coming in by the ones and twos. Sue and I were pretty excited to be so close to Royal and Sandwich Terns. I've seen both species in Florida but not so close I could pet them. Royal Tern is my Rhode Island nemesis bird. I miss them every time they are here! So it is tongue in cheek bittersweet to see them so close and so willing to be photographed in sunny Florida.

The top two terns are Sandwich Terns. Notice the yellow at the end of the bill. The bottom three are Royal Terns. Both species look like balding old men at this time of year.

Everglades!

 

Gator at the Anhinga Trail

  We spent a couple of days in the Everglades on our trip. In two days we saw all sorts of things. As I start this, I'm  sure it is going to be a long post. I'll try to cover as much as I can for anyone wanting to go there. If you like wildlife, you should put the 'glades on your bucket list. 

   The Everglades is huge. There are three entrances to the park. None of them are connected. You can't drive across the park from one entrance to the other. To get to one entrance of the park to another, you have to leave the park and drive at least an hour to the next entrance. One entrance is on the west coast at Everglades City. I have never been there. Another entrance is off of the Tamiami Trail (Route 41), this entrance is called Shark Valley. There is a 15 mile loop paved path that goes into the Everglades. You can walk, bike or take a tram around the loop. Cars are not allowed. We did this loop in 2019. We saw tons of gators and birds riding bikes that we rented. If you want to read about it you can read my post here

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2019/11/shark-valley-everglades-national-park.html 

   This trip we went in by the Coe Visitor Center. The cost to go the national park is $30. The pass is good for one week.  From this entrance there is a 38 mile road that cuts through the Everglades to the visitor hub in Flamingo. Along the way there are places to get out and hike. Most of the hikes are in hammocks. These are areas just a few inches above the surrounding sawgraass that are just high enough and dry enough to support trees. There are two campgrounds along the road. Not far from the entrance is Long Key Campground. The other is in Flamingo. The one at Long Key is wooded and sites are pretty much private. The Flamingo Campground is pretty much an open field, but the sites are far apart. I believe both campgrounds are $26/night

Purple Galinule and the two photos below

   Not far from the entrance is the trailhead for the Anhinga Trail. There is a large parking lot. The "trail" is handicap accessible. Much of it is a boardwalk. Though this trail is very touristy, it is loaded with wildlife. We went there three different times and always saw something new. Every time we went there we saw a couple of alligators. There are a few Purple Galinule that live there. We saw a variety of fish looking into the water. There was a huge turtle and a smaller Red Bellied Slider. Three of the fish we saw were lifers. There were Peacock Bass and Mayan Cichlids, and Florida Gar in the water along with the more common Largemouth Bass.  For birds, besides the Galinule, we saw a Yellow Billed Cuckoo and a Wood Stork.

   Further down the road are the Mahogany Hammock, Pinelands, and Pahayokee Trails. These are all short walks that you can do in less than a half hour each. All were fun. We saw a sleeping Barred Owl and a Florida Gar on these trails. 

At the end of the road is Flamingo. There is a campground, marina, and general store there. You can rent canoes and kayaks at the marina. There is a very popular boat ramp. I could easily write an entire post about Flamingo with a hundred photos of wildlife. 

   We stayed at the campground in Flamingo for a night. At the campground we saw over one hundred White Ibis, Black Bellied Plovers, Yellow Crowned Night Heron, Black Vultures, and Dunlin. This was just driving to and from our sites. We weren't even looking for wildlife. However, the most memorable wildlife were mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were borderline unbearable. We ate our supper quickly at dusk and jumped in the tent. Any time we opened the tent to get in or out required five minutes of turning on our headlamps and smashing the mosquitoes that came in. This year was very wet and the mosquitoes are still around later than normal.

Black Vulture in the Campground

Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron in 
Flamingo Campground

Adult Yellow Crowned Night Heron in 
Flamingo Campground

   The marina in Flamingo is the place to be! We went over to look around. I had heard an American Crocodile (endangered and rare to see) was hanging around the marina. Not only did we see one, there were four swimming. There were at least three manatees hanging around the marina. We also saw Tarpon, Snook, Needlefish, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Black Crowned Night Heron, Red Tailed Hawk, and an Osprey that made a nest on a pole next to the parking lot. We went there one afternoon and stayed for two hours watching all of these animals. 

The first American Crocodile we saw

Croc swimming at the Flamingo Marina

   The following day on our way back to Flamingo from a trip up to the Anhinga Trail we stopped again. One of the Crocodiles was sunning itself near the freshwater boat ramp. As you can imagine, I watched it for over half an hour taking a ton of photos and admiring it. 

American Crocodile sunning at the boat ramp

   After we packed our tent we drove up to Long Key Campground to set up for the night. We stopped at a roadside lake called Nine Mile Pond. Not twenty feet from the parking space was a HUGE crocodile about fifteen feet long. The park rangers named her Croczilla. She was an absolute giant. Easily twice as long and wide as the one at the boat ramp. To be considered "safe" from a gator or croc the park says you need to be at least fifteen feet away. Fifteen feet is nothing and I was surprised you are allowed so close. Being that close with my 600 mm lens meant I could do some damage. With my lens completely zoomed I get get full photos of just the teeth.

Croczilla was huge. I had to stand fifty feet back to get 
the entire croc in the photo

  Before setting up our camp at Long Key Campground, Laurie an d I ate lunch at a picnic area. After lunch we walked the trail across the street. The trail was narrow and it was impossible not to brush up against vegetation. This meant that I could not see where I was putting my foot as I stepped. Not an ideal situation in snake country. Hell yes I jumped back when I almost stepped on two snakes as they slithered  off the trail. I got a quick look at them and they were gray. Best guess they were Florida Red-Bellied Snakes.  

   After setting up our tent and sitting in the dark I saw a Cottonmouth

Manatees at Flamingo Marina

in our campground. If you read my post on Cottonmouths, you already read it, so I won't write the story again here. 

  All in all, I loved our trip to the Everglades. The thirty eight mile road is awesome and, at least in November, very lightly travelled. All the people seem to be on the Anhinga Trail and in Flamingo. We saw almost no one at the hammocks and ponds we stopped at. The wildlife was amazing. There are a bunch of pictures below. If you have any questions about the glades or the wildlife please ask. I tried to fill this post with as much useful info as I could but I will be happy to answer any specific questions in the comments.

  

Barred Owl sleeping right next to the trail

I walked within five feet of this well hidden six foot gator before I saw it

Vesper Sparrow

This huge alligator was seen roadside on the way to Flamingo.
Too bad it was facing the wrong way

Red Shouldered Hawk greeting us at the entrance to Flamingo Campground

Anhinga drying off at the Anhinga Trail

Yellow Billed Cuckoo @ the Anhinga Trail.

Since I was looking into the water for manatees, tarpon, and crocodiles, I walked within ten feet of this osprey sitting on a post before seeing it. It didn't mind. I took five photos and kept walking. It was still there until a Red Tailed Hawk scarred it off.

Things I am thankful for

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posts about Florida to bring you a post about things I am thankful for.  Regularly scheduled posts about Florida will resume tomorrow.

   Every year I do a post where I write what I am thankful for in the outdoors. I do a list of between ten and twenty things I am thankful for. Some of the things are on the list every year such as New Hampshire, Stripers, Dave and Laurie.  However, this year because of rescheduling things that were planned from last year and because I needed breaks from my stressful job, I did a lot of fun things. To list them off as things I am "thankful for" would just be self serving. So I am not going to do that, besides, I do an end of the year review anyway, so I'll write them there. 

  During the last two weeks I have dealt with death and life. Because of this, my post about being thankful has a different perspective from other years. Since I was vaccinated in May, I have been living as though the pandemic is over. I trust the science. I trust that if I were to catch Covid, the vaccination will keep me out of the hospital. I do not fear being out in the public, working, and obviously I don't fear travel. This feeling is not being cocky or arrogant. Like I said, I trust the science.

   However, Covid is very much real. Over the last two weeks, I lost my cousin, Mark. I was closer to him than any other relative. After a long fight he passed away last week. He lived in Maine and I visited him there a couple of times. We took a week long vacation to Florida a few years back. I will miss him.

   On rhis trip to  Florida I almost drowned. It's a long story, but I went snorkeling without my fins on and I almost didn't make it back to the beach. I can not exaggerate enough that I thought I was going to die. I have not been as scared as I was in my life. I really thought it was the end. 

   So as you can imagine, losing a close cousin and almost losing my life has gotten me thinking. As my second cousin's and Mark's brother have their first Thanksgiving only days after he passed, I write this thankful to be alive and sad I will never see him again. 

   Since I almost drowned I have had almost nightly vivid dreams that I was about to die (different ways, not just drowning). These are just dreams and when I wake from them I am back asleep in ten minutes. But I am very thankful to be alive. But it is more than that, I am thankful to be living. What is the point of life if you don't enjoy it? I enjoy it. My bad day happened on my fourth day in Florida. I still had eight more glorious days to enjoy. And I did. We did and saw a lot of cool things. I went snorkeling again just to make sure I wouldn't develop an uncontrollable fear of it. I spent about an hour snorkeling a couple of days later. 

   So this year, instead of being thankful for stripers, New Hampshire, or a quick trip to Philly, I am thankful for being thankful. I am very glad that sunsets don't seem prettier or that the mountain views don't seem more special. Because to me I have appreciated them always. I love my friends and I love the memories I have made this year. I planned as many trips as I could into this year and even when they didn't go as planned I still appreciated getting away. As I was reminded over the last two weeks, life is short. I'm glad I am still here to enjoy it. Though I will miss Mark, I have great memories from the trip to Florida.  For all the reasons above,  I am thankful.

"I'm not here for a long time, I'm here for a good time"

-various artists and Mark Vieira

Florida Suburban Wildlife

White Ibis

   I have spent twenty four days in  Florida between my trip in 2019 and the one that just ended. I dedicated a few of those days to birding, but even when I wasn't birding...I was birding. I went to couple famous places like Ding Darling and Corkscrew. However, you would probably be shocked to know that I got the highest percentage of my Florida lifers at a Walmart parking lot.

Yes, you read that right. I've seen Painted Buntings at Corkscrew, Reddish Egret at Ding, and Magnificent Frigatebird on the Keys, but I have gotten more lifers and Florida state birds in Walmart parking lots.

Eurasian Collared Dove

   On my first trip to Florida we went to the Walmart in Florida City, which is the last town before going to the Keys. We stop there to get supplies and food that we didn't bring on the plane. In the parking lot  I saw my lifer Eurasian Collared Dove, and birds I'd only ever seen one other time Boat-Tailed Grackle and White Ibis. This trip I got a lifer in the parking lot when we saw a flock of Muscovy Ducks. 

   

Muscovy Ducks

   In a Walgreens parking lot I saw a bird I know I had never seen, it turned out they are Common Myna birds. Lifer and an unexpected surprise. 

Common Myna

   A lot of the wildlife in Florida has adapted to people. Of course, there is urban sprawl and a lot of wildlife is displaced. But some species like the White Ibis and Boat-Tailed Grackle like to be around people for free food.  

   The whole Mallory Square area of Key West is concrete. Yet, you can find some amazing wildlife. This trip I found White Crowned Pigeons which were a lifer. From what I saw, they seem more wild than regular Feral Pigeons.  They were eating berries off of Palm Trees and not looking for scraps. 

White Crowned Pigeons

   Of course, Key West is famous for the wild chickens (Jungle Fowl) running all over town. We saw them everywhere. They are wild birds and actually countable on the ABA list. They seem to be expanding their range. We saw them at a Winn Dixie on Big Pine Key and as we were driving off the Keys, I think I saw them on Key Largo. 

Wild Chickens (Jungle Fowl)

Just off the bulkhead at Mallory Square are a couple of concrete structures. They are only fifteen feet from the mainland. Yet, that is enough room for birds to feel safe. I've seen Black Skimmers on these structures every time I've been there. Because of the water between us, they are much closer than they would be on a beach. So, easy photos! Also, Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans will land on these posts. 

I will never turn down the
opportunity to look at Black Skimmers

 Lastly, while driving to Six Mile Slough we passed a college campus. Feeding right next to the road were three gorgeous Sandhill Cranes. We pulled into the campus entrance and I walked back over to them with the sun at my back. They didn't seem to mind me being forty feet away since they kept feeding. It was a challenge to be patient for them to lift their heads up as traffic was flying by me. (I was safely off the road, but must have looked like an idiot).

 

  The point of this post is to remind you if you go to Florida looking for wildlife, don't stop looking. Much of the wildlife has become used to having people around. This makes for easy photos and fun viewing. If I did a post that included wildlife I have seen in campsites I have stayed at (not even the campground as a whole, just my site) my list would include racoons, green herons, iguanas, night herons, warblers, and now fish.

Boat Tailed Grackle at Walmart

Palm Warblers were everywhere. Waiting for one to stop moving for a 
photo was the hard part.